Looking for a spreadsheet solution for a practical issue? Here are a good amount of Excel tips: Pivot Tables offer several significant benefits, which is why they’re so popular. But they also have significant limitations, which is why I seldom have used them in the past. The benefits are obvious. Pivot Tables offer a powerful ability for Excel users to explore relational data in Excel and to return sorted, summarized, and filtered slices of the data to spreadsheets. I don’t know of any other product that offers such power. On the other hand, from my perspective, Pivot Tables have always seemed to be merely a report generator bolted to Excel. They offer many reporting capabilities, but only one spreadsheet function-GETPIVOTDATA-to allow worksheet functions to use PivotTable data. Therefore, Excel users-again in my opinion-have always had to work much harder than we should to use data from one or more Pivot Tables in standard Excel reports. But finally, in Excel 2010, Microsoft added most of the features Excel users need to use Pivot Tables as a truly useful source of data for standard reporting and analysis. Because we can work around the missing features, we finally can use a collection of Pivot Tables as a powerful and massive spreadsheet database.

Spreadsheets are composed of columns and rows that create a grid of cells. Typically, each cell holds a single item of data. Here’s an explanation of the three types of data most commonly used in spreadsheet programs: Formulas are mathematical equations that work in combination with data from other cells on the spreadsheet. Simple formulas are used to add or subtract numbers. Advanced formulas perform algebraic equations. Spreadsheet functions are formulas that are built into Excel.

There are several ways to change text data into numerical data, but using the VALUE function is usually the easiest solution. See Use Excel’s VALUE Function to Convert Text to Numbers. Conversely, if you want Excel to read numerical characters or a formula as text, just add an apostrophe (‘) at the beginning of the entry.

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Excel file formats: The macro-enabled file format for an Excel template Excel 2010 and Excel 2007. Stores VBA macro code or Excel 4.0 macro sheets (.xlm). .xlam The XML-based and macro-enabled Add-In format for Excel 2010 and Excel 2007. An Add-In is a supplemental program that is designed to run additional code. Supports the use of VBA projects and Excel 4.0 macro sheets (.xlm).

Text file formats: .txt Saves a workbook as a tab-delimited text file for use on the MS-DOS operating system, and ensures that tab characters, line breaks, and other characters are interpreted correctly. Saves only the active sheet. .csv Saves a workbook as a comma-delimited text file for use on the Macintosh operating system, and ensures that tab characters, line breaks, and other characters are interpreted correctly. Saves only the active sheet.

Excel Tips and Tricks!

You may know the way to add one new row or column, but it really wastes a lot of time if you need to insert more than one of these by repeating this action X number of times. The best way is to drag and select X rows or columns (X is two or more) if you want to add X rows or columns above or left. Right click the highlighted rows or columns and choose Insert from the drop down menu. New rows will be inserted above the row or to the left of the column you first selected.

Some default data will be blank, for various reasons. If you need to delete these to maintain accuracy, especially when calculating the average value, the speedy way is to filter out all blank cells and delete them with one click. Choose the column you want to filter, go to Data->Filter, after the downward button shows, undo Select All and then pick up the last option, Blanks. All blank cells will show immediately. Go back to Home and click Delete directly, all of them will be removed.

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